Verbal Judo

Verbal Judo is a 138 page book, written by George J. Thompson, Ph. D. and was published in March 2004. It is classified as a nonfiction, personal growth, self help and communication genre. Verbal Judo is based on the art of words and how to utilize them in various situations, in everyday life. The following three chapters left an impression on me; chapter two: The Language of Guidance, chapter four: The Language of Persuasion and chapter eight: The Language of Enforcement. They remained me of situations that have occurred in my own personal life, while I was growing up. This book has opened my eyes to think and solve problems from a different perspective then I would have done so before reading it. In chapter two: The Language of Guidance talks about how to reason with people. The main character Mike, meets Mrs. Shirley Martinez from the state Department of Environmental Protection. While Mike is waiting for this appointment with Mrs. Martinez about discussing a topic that involves a friend of Mikes, he can’t help but over hear a conversation that is taking place in another office cubicle. The voices sounded like a young boy and an adult woman. The two voices were discussing the expense of buying a vehicle. Mrs. Martinez’s son wants to buy a vehicle because he thinks it will solve their problem with getting him to his sporting games. He also tells his mother that he doesn’t think it is fair that his friend just got a vehicle. Then, Mrs. Martinez informs her son that their family does not have the money to afford a vehicle right now. Her son would like to borrow $500.00 from his college fund, in order to buy a vehicle and he offers to pay it back. Mrs. Martinez understands her sons reasoning and asks him to do some more research, to see how much money he has available to spend on the vehicle after expenses. While Mike is waiting for his appointment, a young boy runs pass him. At the same time the woman’s voice Mike had been hearing in the conversation